DATELINE HOLLYWOOD

Kristen Wiig

If I’m shooting or it’s live, then I will dig my fingernails into my thumb so I don’t laugh

Are comedians aware of how funny they are? Are they embarrassed or self-critical about the material they perform? Do they go back to analyse previous performances in an attempt to refine and improve for the next show? Kristen Wiig ’s route to comedy had involved a tour around all those ideas and you sense the order in which she has refined them is a major contributing factor to what she has achieved. “And what I have achieved is greatness,” she interjects, laughing as we propose the idea. “As a comedian, you have to constantly analyse what you say, how you say it, your facial expressions, your pauses,” says the 45-year-old entertainer.

She adds: “Any comedian who doesn’t scrutinise every single word is probably taking the audience for granted. While you’ve got to be able to switch ideas quickly depending on the crowd, even your adjustments are planned. It’s a skill. But watching myself back? No, never!”

Since her breakthrough role as a one-eyed Christian fundamentalist in Greg Mottola’s 2011 film Paul, Wiig has garnered a global reputation for lighting up a room. In an era of hard-line political and confrontational comedians, the New York born spark is everything that is light-hearted, genuine and uplifting about what makes us laugh.

Her comedy routines are brilliantly off-thecuff, the sketches are perfectly placed and when adding in Saturday Night Live skits that are stunningly impromptu, you wonder what lies in store for us. She even has the art of corpsing down to a T.

“I think the best comedians are those who are shown to laugh both at themselves and each other,” she says, adding: “Of course, it’s all an act but to have an act where you’re sharing the laughter of others – well, that must be the most convincing, surely?”

The star of Downsizing and Bridesmaids continues: “When I am laughing on the inside, I’m not laughing at myself – I am probably laughing at something or someone else on set. The only reason I’m making that clarification is because I am not laughing because I think I’m funny; but sometimes when you do those things, you kind of step out of yourself and think: ‘What am I, what wig am I wearing, what am I doing here?’ That actually becomes funnier than whatever it is you’re saying!”

“On other occasions it can be something that someone else wrote that you find really funny – and you simply can’t keep it in. But on the odd occasion if I’m shooting or it’s live, then I will dig my fingernails into my thumb so I don’t laugh,” she reveals.

Wiig’s demand is such that she has another busy year in store from voice over work in ‘How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World,’ to playing Audrey, the neighbour of Cate Blanchett’s, title character in ‘Where’d You Go, Bernadette.’ She also voices Jenny Hart in the Fox animated series Bless the Harts.

“Variety is a big thing – I need to keep things fresh and moving forward. Someone out there likes me at the moment so I’m taking that!” she enthuses.

To return to the point of watching sketches back, Wiig says she never has and never will do it. “In seven years, I never watched anything back,” she declares, adding: “I’d watch the sketches of others but I don’t want to be aware of what I’m doing.”

“That isn’t so much about being self-critical; but more about being aware that if I looked in a camera during another interview and saw the framing of the shot, I’d be too aware of what I am doing; the angle of my face, for example. If I don’t know or have no idea, then I can be more in my own body… if that makes sense,” she muses.

Of course, the ability to fall into character or a mode is something every comedian needs to master. Even so, Wiig admits she never wants to go back to the extent of camouflaging she undertook when she played Alexanya Atoz in Zoolander 2.

“That crazy character took a lot of prosthetics – in fact, four hours simply getting everything glued on. Some of the audience apparently didn’t even know it was me. Someone asked me if it was a critique of Donatella Versace? Well, it wasn’t,” she says, with a laugh.

She continues: “Zoolander 2 was not like any other comedy that I had done. When not doing funny scenes, I spent most of my time gazing at others on the set who looked absolutely ridiculous. The sets were crazy; everything about it was insane.”

“But to be really honest, I get more embarrassed in real life than I do when I’m working. Maybe comedy is escapism. I hope so… real life is just too crazy!” Wiig remarks.

I think the best comedians are those

who are shown to laugh both at

themselves and each other